Weekly Gardening Thread (Seeds) Vol. 2, January 13, 2012

January 13, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Good morning everybody! It is cold and clear here in NE Louisiana, zone 8a, we should reach 50° today under sunny skies. We've received several inches of rain in the past 3 weeks, so there will be no garden prep for a while yet, but the sunny sky has a way of getting me in the mood.

In last week's thread we discussed our seed and supply catalogs. This week I intended to discuss saving seeds from our own harvests, and starting seeds indoors. In preparing, I actually found a couple of articles that are very informative and give good information in very plain, easy to understand language.

Both of these articles are from GRIT magazine online. It is my hope that you will benefit from this information. The pages seem to load very slowly, but you may find it time well invested.

Vegetable Seed Saving: What You Need to Know

Preparing to Start Seeds

If you have any links with good information along these lines, please feel free to share them with the group!

[tillacum]

I can imagine your mother’s reaction.

[Red_Devil 232]

Thought I would post a picture of the Cranberry Mead I am making. I am making a 5 gallon batch. It had been in its primary fermenter since Nov. 30 and I transferred it to a 5 gallon secondary last week where it will sit and mellow out for the next four months at which point it will be bottled and aged in the bottles for about 6.5 months. Just in time for next Thanksgiving. As you can see it is a quite clear Rosé color right now. It has a very young and very tart taste which will mellow out as it ages. It is at a 13% alcohol by volume.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

That is mightly pretty, RD. Gonna be some fabulous stuff!

I've not started my mead yet. Good thing honey never goes bad. :)

[Red_Devil 232]

“Gonna be some fabulous stuff!”

I do hope so.

[Sarajevo]

Problem is that almost nobody bales in small rectangles anymore ... they've all gone to the big roll bales.

The animals needed something in a more "well-rounded diet". :-P

Sorry, I couldn't resist

[Sarajevo]

Recipe?

[dervish]

Try a humidity tray underneath it.

[Red_Devil 232]

14 lbs honey (1.25 gallons)
4.5 gallons water
wine yeast plus a yeast nutrient to help the yeast stay well and alive.
3 pounds of fresh Cranberries - Frozen then thawed and mashed then added to the honey water mixture for ten days.
And lots of time waiting.

[Sarajevo]

Thanks! I’m going to have to try this!

[Red_Devil 232]

Five gallons is a lot unless it turns out really great. Anyone who wants to make a mead should read up on it. You can use just about any yeast you want but a good mead is made with yeasts proven to work and produce a good tasting final product. I chose to make a dry honey mead and used a yeast that will do that. There are all kinds of forums and blogs dedicated to homemade mead/wine and beers. Good sanitation is the one big thing is stressed.

[dervish]

“Here is the general Seed-Starting Schedule for seeds that should be started eight weeks before the last expected spring frost date.

Eight-week General Seed-Starting Timetable
Horticultural Zones 9 & 10: Start seeds indoors in early to mid January.
Horticultural Zone 8: Start seeds indoors in early February.
Horticultural Zone 7: Start seeds indoors in mid February.
Horticultural Zone 6: Start seeds indoors in late February.
Horticultural Zone 5: Start seeds indoors in early March.
Horticultural Zones 1-4: Start seeds indoors in mid to late March.

Here is the Seed-Starting Schedule for vegetables, herbs and flowers that require more or less time prior to transplanting out into the garden.

More-or-Less-Than-Eight Weeks Seed-Starting Timetable
Four Weeks: Melons, Bitter Melon and Cucuzzi Edible Gourds.
Six Weeks: Asparagus, Fennel, Onions, Rhubarb, Shallots, Tomatillos, Basil, Echinacea Root and St. John’s Wort.
Eight Weeks: Eggplant, Tomatoes, Chiles, Sweet and Bell Peppers, Chives, Sage, Stevia and Thyme.
Nine Weeks: Broccoli, Cabbage and Kohlrabi (transplant out four weeks before the last frost date).
Ten Weeks: Celery, Celeriac, Jicama and Lemongrass.
Eleven Weeks: Leeks, Artichokes and Cauliflower (transplant out four weeks before the last frost date).
Twelve Weeks: Cardoons and Brussels Sprouts.
Sixteen Weeks: Strawberries (for first year crop) and Rosemary.”

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds

http://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I really like John Scheeper’s.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

So sorry .... I meant to thank you for posting that timetable too! That was very nice of you.

[tubebender]

Benderville had a RARE snowfall Sunday Night and we could get flooding rains by the weekend. I found Lady Bender cloistered with her 24 seed and plant catalogs this morning. It didn’t take long and 17 of them were on the discard pile on the floor, then she spent 3 hours comparing prices and ordering her Flower seeds for the coming year. Look into Geo Seeds for large scale growers of FLOWERS ONLY. They have the obligatory pkt size but big savings when bought by the Thousand seeds.

I ordered my vegetable seeds from Johhny’s and Territorial seeds...

[Racehorse]

My tomato seedlings have all hatched and are stretching for sky (garage grow light). Varieties which may find their way into my wee backyard garden about the middle of March are:

Celebrity
4th of July
BHN 640
Husky Cherry (Thanks, JustaDumbBlonde)
Ladybug Cherry

These should do well in our scorching, dry, South Central Texas Summers

Some of these may make it into the garden or into 15 gallon containers, just to see what thrives:

Container Choice
Cherokee Purple
Hillbilly
Big Rainbow
Tomasu Grandeur
Big Rainbow
Beefy Boy
German Giant
First Prize
Brandywine (pink)
Tomatilla, Cisneros (not really a tomato, but something I've yet to grow successfully)

Going into the seed trays today are:

Hot peppers:
Biker Billy Jalapeno
Jalapeno Grande
Big Thai
Ancho San Luis (mild)
Cayenne (Mystery variety. A gift.)

Sweet peppers:
Camelot (These always do well, both in the Spring and the Fall. Stops producing with the central Texas Summer heat and starts producing again when tempature drops.)
Big Early
Chinese Giant

Eggplant:
Shoya Long
Fengyuan Purple

Squash
Waltham Butternut

Cucumbers
Soyu Long (Love this one. Cukes grow to at least 12 inches. Few seeds. Sweet. True even for those I've let grow to almost 2')
Baby Cucino (Love this minature cuke even more. Seed is EXPENSIVE. But, after picking the first six from a single plant, cost is more than justified. Yum.)
Dasher II (A recommended variety for our area.)
Tanja (Another long cuke. First time I'm growing it.)

Now thriving in the garden: Georgia Collards, 3 varieties of onion, lettuce, cabbage, and garlic.

[satan69]

South FL update:

I got the Garden part way cleaned up and part of it plowed. I was then able to plant the Rattlesnake Watermellon, Sweet Meat Squash and my Giant Russian SunFlowers... I have no idea why I plant the Giant sunflowers other then I like looking at them.. The corn is about 4” tall and the Brussle sprouts which are taking forever are looking good. I am heading into town today to get some live plants.. I have 3 53 foot rows left.. I will have to see what they have. Brok, Cali, Cabbage, and I am not sure what else..

Has anyone ever grown Tomatoes on a Fence? I have a 20’ x 6’ fence in the middle of the garden I don’t know what to do with.. Thinking 3 tomatoes on each side. That or I will grow Morning Glories or something that climbs. I hate to have unused Garden space.. I should have my old computer back up and running latter this week so I can start posting Picture again.. Looks like the Banana’s made it. They are sending up new green shoots from the TOP so I might get too many little Banana’s latter in the year..

Plow um stright!

I got a hand plow a year and a 1/2 ago. With my back it’s nice to be able to plow. It’s got wooden handles and one big wheel and works perfect in the FL sand other then the FACT I still have to push it. I tried one of those tiny roto tillers but my back can’t handle it.. It sucks to be disabled after 34 years of climbing telephone polls and working hard in the FL heat but I am slowly getting used to being retired.. Strange how they pay me to not work. Guess saving my money and working hard all my life was worth it..

Now if I could just talk my 27 year old son into helping me.. He dosn’t seem to want to help me put the garden in or weed but he loves the fruit and veggies and loves to take them to his friends and his work.. They love the sweet FL watermellons!

C-Ya

[JustaDumbBlonde]

As much time as I spend on eBay, it never occurred to me to shop for seeds there. Yesterday I was searching for a tomato slicer, and accidentally found this listing:

20 Varieties Heirloom Tomatoes Tomato Seeds SALE

I do not know this person ... he/she appears to be in Kentucky. For less than $12, you can get 20 different open pollinated or heirloom varieties, you choose which ones. You can buy more than one offer, so you could get 40 or 60 varieties to keep!

Sounds like a great deal to me, and as much as I DON'T need a single tomato seed this year, I'm going to try it. Some of these seeds are very expensive in the catalogs.

[who knows what evil?]

The ‘critics’ who post at Tomatoville speak very highly of ‘Blue Ribbon’ seeds...go for it. The owner posts there, as well. (That crowd is usually very leery of seeds offered on eBay.)

[Red_Devil 232]

Here are a couple of pictures of my 5 gallon carboy filled with my Cranberry Mead. It will stay in this carboy for four months to give it time to age and mellow out as a batch and then I will bottle it and let it age until Nov.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Red, that is simply beautiful. Hope you've got all of your friends and neighbors saving wine bottles. That will save you the expense.

All of my wine bottles go to a friend of ours just over the border in Arkansas. He makes very fine muscadine and plum wines.

I save liquor bottles for various reasons, and another friend of mine bottled some wine in those, using a properly sized cork, but I was wondering how the wine would do in a clear bottle.